Note taking, appointments and to-do lists are a huge part of the lives of most of the Mac|Life staff. With the break-neck pace of modern life, there's little doubt in our minds that many of you find yourself relying on sticky notes, old school appointment books or dare we say it, an iOS app, to keep your days from running off the rails. If you lean towards App Store-based solutions and have been looking for a new way to keep your universe running smoothly, you could do far worse than giving Awesome Note a whirl.

There is nothing more important than your documents and files, which is why you should always make sure that they're backed up on an external hard drive somewhere in a fireproof safe. Because you never know when the robots will rise up and destroy your computer. However, if you want to access your files in a more organized manner, check out these two apps that are absolutely essential. Not only are they free but they do the wonderful duty of keeping your files in tip top shape--and accessible!

Our most read news, reviews and in-depth articles. This week BT said it would offer free fibre optic upgrades to its customers, Android 2.2 came to HTC Desires on T-Mobile and Microsoft re-iterated its stance that Blu-ray is heading for the grave.

Our trusty TiVos can’t be everywhere at once. Sometimes, something great will happen that we didn’t record, and we won’t catch the snappy references at the next day’s staff meeting. For instance, did you see Neil Young sing the “Double Rainbow” song? For missed moments like these, Hulu Plus serves up a massive roster of TV shows and a smattering of movies to quell our pop-culture needs. You’ll be able to quote lines from old favorites--“It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping”--and recent hits. But before you mumble, “I want to go to there,” be warned that Hulu Plus still might leave you out of the loop at that meeting. In spite of the great iPad and iPhone apps, it omits certain episodes and other crucial features.

This week we'll take a look at how handy folders can be in the iOS Dock, learn how to create a special Apple logo folder, and practice a few tricks that make iTunes 10 a bit more palatable, Plus, we'll teach you about the new iPhone Field Service test in iOS 4.1.

It's that time of year again: Consumer watchdogs JD Power posted the results of their recent Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study. It should come as no surprise that the iPhone is once again king of the hill in the hearts of those who participated in the study, allowing iPhone owners to stand proud in the knowledge that they possess a handful of awesome.

The world of smartphone app development is a frustrating, constantly changing place. To get a feel for what developers have to put up with, you needn't look any further than the iTunes App Store. For the longest time, developers were allowed to churn out their creations using third-party software... until they weren't. Out of the blue a little while back, they were once again. Should they be victorious in the long uphill battle to complete an application, that app has to go through a stringent approval process, where it could very well be disallowed, forcing the developer to either scrap her project or tweak it to Apple satisfaction. Throughout this process, developers make no money from the sweat of their brows. Worst of all, should the developer want to deploy his wares to a number of App Stores, she'll be forced to jump through a number of similar hoops once again. With such a development environment, nobody wins. Innovation is stifled by strict and oft-times frustrating App Store rules, consumers yearning for an application available on one platform to come to another often goes unsated, as developers spend so much time fighting through red tape that they're too busy to transfer their work to a different OS ecosystem. Fortunately, things may be looking for individuals interested in cross-platform mobile application development, as a number of players in the mobile telecommunications game have banded together to sort out a universal web-based approach to application development. Their solution is one that will seem very familiar to long-time iPod touch or iPhone users: Web Apps.

Forgive us for not being entirely objective, but we let out a large groan when we read this headline. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg hinted at a recent Goldman Sachs conference that we shouldn't bet on the possibility of a Verizon version of the iPhone any time soon.

If you need more evidence that we’re living in the future, check out the video below from Visa, who has started a test program in New York City which allows subway riders to pay their fares with nothing more than your iPhone.

I've been a Verizon customer for ten years now, since before you could purchase a monthly texting plan and unlimited minutes. I was with the company when they switched from black-and-green cell phone displays to color ones, and when Motorola was still considered one of the top tier mobile handset manufacturers. I remember my first phone with a color display--the Motorola T720i--and marveling at the phone's texting and mobile web capabilities (back then, it only cost $5 a month to get on Mobile Web). But then, as the phones became more colorful, and might I add "smarter", Verizon introduced its own app store of sorts, called Get It Now.